knitting, greyhounds, roller derby, life, Crossfit, eat clean

not so pretty anymore

I was so excited for derby practice Thursday night so I could try out my new skates. These are Riedell “265”s . I had ordered the Riedell 126s but they were backordered in my size. The great people at Rollergirl.ca offered to upgrade me to the 265s at a discounted price. I had liked the looks of the 265s but was trying to keep the total bill down. So I happily accepted their offer and the 265s made their way to me.

fresh out of the box and in the middle of changing the laces (skull and crossbones, OF COURSE!)

I was a little like Bambi on ice for the first 20 minutes or so of practice. These skates are a Cadillac to the rental skate’s K-Car. The rental skates are seriously the same vintage that I had used in high school when we would skip out from Biology and go roller skating (same place, too). Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated being given them to use for free while I decided if I was going to jump into derby. But I digress.

These boots are soft, supple leather and were SNUG. They are an ankle boot, different from the high top rentals. The wheels are bigger – and actually turn smoothly and quietly! – and the entire balance is different. But they are like skating on air, so smooth and quiet! (oh, and FYI – the bigger wheels leave a bigger bruise on my ass when I fall …)

not so pretty now

Our rink floor is painted concrete, very dusty and when you fall, the paint scrapes into the leather. You can buy toe protectors or just tape up the toes so they don’t get so scuffed so quickly. I didn’t do that before practice.

one of the girls had this awesome hockey tape; I borrowed some, but bought my own on the weekend.

So I’ll have to clean them up, tape them up and get ready for practice on Monday. I was also advised that I should have legwarmers that will cover the upper top of the boot and thus protect it. Hmmm, a reason to knit legwarmers!

I have a cheap pair of Riedells, and I couldn’t wear them. The mid boot gave me blisters, and the wide wheels tripped me up. I need the old school boot with the heel, but then again I’m not racing. Those look cool, and the battle scars can only add to the look!